Metropolitan and peripheral Russia

Initially, several regions of Russia were not permitted the local government in the form of zemstvos. Right-bank Ukraine, the Arkhangelsk, Astrakhan, Orenburg, and Ufa governorates, Congress Poland, the Baltic Governorates, Siberia, the Caucasus, and Central Asia. The Astrakhan, Orenburg, and Ufa governorates, as well as right-bank Ukraine, were later integrated into the metropole and allowed to possess zemstvos, while the other listed regions would remain unrepresented, and therefore as part of the periphery, until the 1917 Russian Revolution. Morrison writes, "This both reflected and helped reinforce the division between a 'core' area of 'Great Russia,' and an 'empire' that lay beyond it."{{sfn|Morrison|2012|pp=341–342}} Roger Dow, a writer for The Russian Review, also described metropolitan Russia as synonymous with Great Russia, particularly as a distinction from Ukraine, or Little Russia.{{sfn|Dow|1941|p=7}}

Other, less exact definitions of metropolitan Russia have also been proposed. American independent researcher Allen J. Frank, for instance, describes metropolitan Russia as including those areas which were part of the Russian Empire prior to the 19th-century colonisation of the Caucasus and Central Asia. This includes several non-Russian areas, such as the Idel-Ural and western Siberia.{{sfn|Frank|2002|p=28}}

Since the dissolution of the Soviet Union and particularly under Vladimir Putin's rule of Russia, the usage of metropolitan and peripheral Russia has increased. Peripheral Russia has been described by Russian political scientist Vladimir Gelman as the "principal constituency of the current ruling class," in reference to Putin's government.{{Cite web |last=Menches |first=Filip |date=15 March 2017 |title=Russian nationalism |url=https://www.aspeninstitutece.org/article/2017/russian-nationalism/ |access-date=6 January 2025 |website=Aspen Review}} Vytautas Magnus University academic Leslie Dienes has described post-Soviet metropolitan Russia as an "archipelago", with highly developed cities being separated by swathes of undeveloped territory. Dienes wrote in 2002 that peripheral Russia was "primitive" and "deprived of the most elementary physical and social infrastructure," in a phenomenon not found in either the rest of Europe or the United States.{{sfn|Dienes|2002|p=444}}

During the 1990s the split between metropolitan and peripheral Russia was also present in regional expenditures; Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Samara Oblast and Novosibirsk Oblast were the only regions of Russia where expenditures consistently were higher than revenues. Moscow, in particular, surpassed the national average expenditure by five times.{{sfn|Dienes|2002|p=448}} The Russian government's inability to afford subsidies for peripheral regions such as the Far East has resulted in the collapse of almost all industry in the region.{{sfn|Dienes|2002|p=452}} According to a 2024 report by the Bertelsmann Stiftung, peripheral Russia "experiences very low levels of development", particularly in the North Caucasus. Metropolitan Russia has an established middle class and is undergoing a transition to post-industrial society, with white-collar workers comprising an increasing amount of its workforce. Despite including only 21% of the population, metropolitan Russia is home to the majority of Russia's internet users and middle class.{{Cite web |title=Russia Country Report 2024 |url=https://bti-project.org/en/reports/country-report/RUS |access-date=6 January 2025 |website=BTI Transformation Index |pages=18, 30}}

"Metropolitan", "continental", or "mainland" definitions exist for several other countries. Some are listed below:

• Mainland China
• Metropolitan France
• Mainland Japan
• Peninsular Malaysia
• Great Britain
• Contiguous United States

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Category:Geography of Russia

Category:Historical geography of Russia

Category:Metropolitan or continental parts of states